Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T23:04:38.775Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Towards a Symbol for the World Campaign for The Biosphere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

John R. Vallentyne
John R. Vallentyne
Affiliation:
Senior Scientist, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada Centre for Inland Waters, P. O. Box 5050, Burlington, Ontario L7R 4A6, Canada Vice-President of the World Council For The Biosphere; Past-President of SIL.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Criteria in selecting a symbol for The World Campaign for The Biosphere are analyzed around fourteen questions posed to the World Council For The Biosphere (WCB) and the International Society For Environmental Education (ISEE). To be truly supranational the symbol must be free from words and focused on mind and The Biosphere—the key end-points in the circular causal chain of ‘education for ecologically sustainable development’. As the target audience is external to WCB-ISEE, the symbol should be open to use by other organizations, and perhaps have a designated place for their identification. To the extent that the symbol poses a moral question it should be spiritual, emotive, and applicable to instances of overexploitation and excessive waste. Technology should not be automatically excluded, nor should the focus be restricted to organizations (versus people) or specific age-groups.

The essential message to be communicated is wholeness through feedback. Suitable geometric forms include irregular lines ending where they begin, circles, spheres, and (in terms of computer imagery) pulsating objects. Existing symbols with appropriate traditions to build on include: the yin-yang symbol of the Tao; the Atlas symbol of person-planet; individual life-forms such as a tree; and the glory—the shadow of a human head surrounded by concentric, rainbow-coloured circles.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , Winter 1984 , pp. 309 - 312
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anon. (1982). Declaration: The World Campaign for The Biosphere. Environmental Conservation, 9 (2), pp. 91–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashby, W.R. (1976). An Introduction to Cybernetics. Methuen & Co., London, England, UK: vii + 295 pp.Google Scholar
Caldwell, L.K. (1972). In Defense of Earth. Indiana University Press, Bloomington & London: x + 195 pp.Google Scholar
Chardin, P. Teilhard de (1956). Man's Place in Nature (translated by Hague, R.). Collins, London & Glasgow, UK: 124 pp.Google Scholar
Davis, C.B. (1983). The World Council For The Biosphere/International Society For Environmental Education. Environmental Conservation, 10 (4), pp. 353–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R. & Ehrlich, A.H. (1970). Population Resources Environment. W.H. Freemann and Co., San Francisco, California, USA: 383 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Meadows, D.H., Meadows, D.L., Randers, J. & Behrens, W.W. III (1972). Limits to Growth (2nd edn). Signet Books, The New American Library, New York, NY, USA: xix + 207 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Nicholson, E. Max (1972). The Environmental Revolution. Penguin Books, Hardmondsworth, England, UK: 432 pp.Google Scholar
Polunin, Nicholas (1980). Suggested actions for the forthcoming World Decade of The Biosphere. Environmental Conservation, 7 (3), pp. 271–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polunin, Nicholas (1982). Our global environment and the World Campaign for The Biosphere. Environmental Conservation, 9 (2), pp. 115–21, 2 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suess, E. (1875). Die Entstehung der Alpen. Braumuller, Vienna, Austria: 168 pp.Google Scholar
Vallentyne, J.R. (1978), Today is yesterday's tomorrow. Verhandl. Internal. Verein. Limnol., 20, pp. 1–12.Google Scholar
Vallentyne, J.R. (1984). ‘Johnny Biosphere’. Environmental Conservation, 11 (4), pp. 363–1, 2 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vernadsky, V.I. (1929). La Biosphère. Librairie Felix Alcan, Paris, France: xii + 232 pp.Google Scholar
Wells, H.G. (1928), The Open Conspiracy. Victor Gollancz, London, England, UK: 156 pp.Google Scholar